


The Lock and the Hourglass

by anitsuki



Category: ATEEZ (Band), Kpop - Fandom
Genre: ATEEZ Storyline Event, Dreams and Nightmares, Emotional/Psychological Abuse, Friends to Enemies, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Minor Violence, NOTHING IS AS IT SEEMS, Seonghwa is Lost, Seonghwa's Memory, Seonghwa's memory turned dreams, Wooyoung has a special place in Seonghwa's heart, but not really, hinted betrayal, spot the MV references, the bracelet has a purpose I swear
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-12
Updated: 2020-07-12
Packaged: 2021-03-04 21:14:21
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,317
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25212988
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/anitsuki/pseuds/anitsuki
Summary: "When you are lost, look to the sky and I will be there for you," she had said. "I am with you."Seonghwa trusted her.Then, the man in the black fedora showed up.His dreams turned sour and that pure memory of her became tainted.
Kudos: 1





	The Lock and the Hourglass

**Author's Note:**

> hi! this is my first time posting a story here. I wrote this story for the ATEEZ storyline event and wanted to share it with others. I hope you enjoy it! <3

“Everyone left you, but _I_ never did. I am with you,” she once said to Seonghwa what felt like a lifetime ago. “When you are lost, look to the sky and I will be there for you.” A flicker of a gentle smile. “And when you find your treasure, look to your loved ones and hold them close.”

“Don’t go,” he whispered into the cold air. The strike of a major chord filled the space that began to close in on him. The night sky twinkling above seemed to glitter and fondly watch over him. A zing of static brushed down his arm as a little bracelet wrapped possessively around his wrist, the lock charm dangling cheerily off the metal links. He brushed his fingers against the bracelet, understanding at the back of his mind what it meant. He peered up at the dazzling light before him.

“Go; live your dream. Look beyond the horizon. There is much more to life than you’ve seen, my shining star,” she urged before everything went dark. The stars above, once comforting, disappeared. They went out, one by one, as if somebody had begun to blow out a room full of candles. There was only darkness.

Yet a sudden, pure and bright light burst out in front of him. It blinded Seonghwa, forcing him to cover his eyes. Music floated past him, coaxing him to follow. So, he did. One step in front of the other, the intoxicating sound of the music guided him. It wrapped around him, curling and tightening its grip, while it mesmerized him.

The popping of strings brought Seonghwa out of his dazed wanderings. The light, once strong and clear, now dimmed immensely. Darkness creeped in as the sound of strings frantically picked up tempo. His heart began to race along, feeling deep in his bones the crescendo that built up.

Shadows leered at him as he halted in the middle of the path. Wind punched him square in the chest, the melodic music of the strings suddenly turning into a deep eerie sound. Light peeked out in the distance, but something blocked out a portion of it.

“Are you good?” The words brushed up against Seonghwa’s ears. Turning in a circle, only darkness silently watched his fruitless efforts. The light flickered in the distance, the shadow in front of it shifting. Could that have been where the voice came from?

“Are you evil?” Seonghwa found himself asking back. Everything suddenly stopped. The strings, the music, the voice. His own breathing stopped. It caught and tangled itself in his throat, choking him quietly.

A dark chuckle surrounded him. “Who’s there?” he asked into the air. No answer.

The solid ground he stood on fell away and with a scream, Seonghwa plunged into darkness. Wind roared in his ears as his body arched and dropped through the air. The sharp wind cut fabric off of his dark clothing, the pieces fluttering in spirals like delicate butterflies.

A set of pale hands reached toward him and in the blind panic, he couldn’t grasp them. Cool toned colors swirled up and passed his face the further down he fell.

Humming filled his ears at the exact moment his back slammed into something solid. His lungs squeezed in his chest as fireworks lit up behind his eyelids. Seonghwa leaned over, wheezing loudly as he struggled to breathe. Light creeped up and began to light up the area he landed on.

Wood squeaked underneath the weight of his feet as he scrambled to stand and to survey his surroundings. Clouds brushed the top of his head, ruffling his hair good naturedly. Blue skies stretched out lazily like a cat, the sun winking to his left. He stumbled over to the edge and just like that, his breath stolen once more as his lungs squeezed uncomfortably at what he saw.

Endless skies surrounded him, no ground in sight. Vertigo held his stomach firmly in its grasp.

“Let’s party all night!” a shrill voice shrieked out, quickly followed by a high-pitched laugh. Seonghwa’s eyes widened. That was a laugh he knew all too well.

“Wooyoung?” he questioned out loud as he turned to face what was behind him. An empty deck stared back at him, judging him as shadows stalked him. “Wooyoung!” he yelled, sweat trailing a path down the side of his face.

Something struck the deck, startling and upsetting his balance. Smoke and dust billowed out, forcing Seonghwa to cover his face with his arm. Wind tugged on his sweater and he skidded. The edge of the deck beckoned him closer, daring him to teeter off into the bright void below.

Silence rang out as the dust settled. The silver curve sticking out of the deck gave him more questions than answers. The crescent moon had fallen from the sky.

“Can you see the changes?” a deep voice whispered in his ears, barely heard over the rush of blood pounding in them. He flinched, slipping on the suddenly wet wood under his feet.

“Is this a dream?” a lilting voice questioned. Giggles bounced around Seonghwa and set him on edge. “Or is this your reality?” the voice continued, bright laughter contrasting the horrifying words.

“Is this a dream?” Seonghwa quietly asked himself, watching how the sky slammed from night into daytime. The sun bounced across the heavens above, the deep blue shrinking into a blood red color. Thunder boomed in the distance, the sound rumbling the wood beneath his boots. The sun, despite the sudden onslaught of rain and hail, glared down at him.

“Or is it your reality?” a different but higher voice repeated, startling him. The deck melted away as the colors leached out. Sand sprinkled down from above and created a new scene. “If this was a dream, you would have control. You do not have control over reality,” the voice continued, snorting at the very notion. “But _look_ around you! It is _not_ in your hands!”

He took a step back, waves suddenly thrashing at his calves from behind. He slipped on the sand and fell flat on his backside, the salty ocean waves soaking him from the waist down. He could feel tears etching pathways down his cheeks.

“What brought you here, Seonghwa? Why are you _here_ , knees buried in the sand? Soaked down to the bone? With tears streaking down your cheeks?” the voice asked as he looked up finally, lightning flickering across his eyes.

“I don’t know why I’m here!” he finally admitted, anger roiling hot in his blood.

“I can tell you why you’re here.” Seonghwa sputtered as dry sand suddenly filled his mouth as the man kicked at the ground. He coughed and gagged, hunching over and bracing his hands on the wet sand. Foamy saltwater lapped at his fingers and wrists while his body shook from the sudden drop of his internal temperature. A pale hand gripped his chin and jerked his head up. Their gazes met.

A man with a black fedora and a chained mask stared back at him, eyes shifting colors much like a kaleidoscope. Blue, green, gray, and then brown. A pop of violet peeked out every now and then. The mystery man’s facial shape even shifted. As if he couldn’t decide how he wanted to look or how he wanted to intimidate the other.

“Are you evil?” Seonghwa breathed out, mind and heart racing as the man’s grip tightened on his jaw.

The fedora man chuckled, the sound messing with his head. “Are you good?” he mocked, and it clicked. He had spoken those same words earlier to Seonghwa and they had sent him spiraling down into the air earlier until he had fallen onto the deck of the flying ship.

The man rolled his eyes, lowering his gaze into a glare. He clenched his jaw and veins popped along the visible skin of his neck. “Does it matter?” he spat out. “Good and evil walk hand-and-hand with one another, and _you_ ask _me_ if I am evil? You selfishly pushed your loved ones away. Why do you assume I am evil?” He shook his head, exhaling loudly. “You doomed the ones you love when you left them behind! How am I the evil one between the two of us?”

The blood visibly drained from Seonghwa’s face, utter shame washing over him. He opened his mouth to defend himself but found that his voice refused to work. His gaze fell to the floor as the other man regained his composure. A low humorless chuckle escaped out from behind the mask as the man with the fedora shook his head, chains clinking together at his movement.

“You have never been alone here,” he spoke, voice rumbling and rolling like a clap of thunder. Seonghwa once again met the harsh gaze of the fedora man. “I have been here from the very _moment_ you set foot here.” Flashes of blue and green light curled up from behind the man’s broad hat. He broke their staring contest and looked to the dark sky above.

A gorgeous blue and green aurora sprang to life, lighting up the darkness that crept into his aching heart. More tears fell down his cheeks as the words from so long ago came back to him.

“I am with you. When you are lost, look to the sky and I will be there for you.” And there she was, lighting up the darkness for him. She took many forms, but she once told him that this one was her favorite.

“Where there is light, there is hope,” her voice whispered in his memories, her scent of flowers and fresh water dragged up from the deepest corners of his mind. “And I have always loved to bring hope to those that need it. Like your loved ones. Like _you_.”

Hope welled up in his chest, causing his heart to lift and soar high above the mocking and sneering of the man before him. It all crashed in an instant as the man began laughing maniacally.

“You are here because you pushed your loved ones here. They’re waiting for you. Don’t you want to see them again? Before you have to disappear?” he mocked, eyebrows arching in amusement. Seonghwa met his gaze, hard steel against a roaring wildfire. Silence washed over the two as they glared at each other, a line of electricity sparking back and forth between them.

Ruby red light covered the two and they broke their locked gazes to look up at the sky above. The bracelet on Seonghwa’s wrist, forgotten in the turmoil of everything, seared against his delicate skin and pain spread up his arm. “No,” he whispered, hope falling apart at the sight in the sky.

The blue-green aurora had turned a blood red, and it writhed in pure agony against the immortal stars. Stars fell left and right from the sky as she lost her hold on them. Soot, ashes, and flakes of fire rained down on the two of them. Numbness crept in and gripped his heart, keeping it captive in its destructive hold.

The man laughed, reveling in the destruction floating down in a flurry so much like snow or confetti. He began to glitch and twitch; his eyes changed shape until they were undeniable.

“Hello, Seonghwa,” he finally murmured, laughing fit long forgotten. His voice was now one he knew all too well: his own.

The ground beneath him yawned open and swallowed Seonghwa’s body whole, burying him beneath a millennium of eroded crystals, limestone, and broken dreams. Fire crackled at the back of his mind as he stared hopelessly up at the writhing blood aurora. His aurora, helpless and in pain. And he couldn’t help her. Shame flooded him and seared his cheeks a flaming beet red.

The man in the black fedora leaned over, blocking his view of her. He tilted his head mockingly. “You _should_ have joined us when you had the chance,” he snarled. Seven shadows hugged the man, shifting and flickering into seven more men in black fedoras and masks. And with that, Seonghwa’s head finally went under the beach.

He pressed a hand against his forehead, cracking his eyes open just a hair as dim light filtered into his room. It had all faded away, as if it was all just a fever dream. As if it was all just his worst fears hounding him at the witching hour and forcing him to wake up in sweat and screams.

Trinkets and miscellaneous decorations neatly lined his shelves, sparkling under the dim lamp light. Sleepy warmth coated his bones, the allure of returning to a better dream and to better sleep stuck to his eyelids like honey on a honeycomb. Seonghwa rubbed at his eye, hoping to wake up fully and not return to that hellscape that his fears came up with.

“ _Seonghwa!_ ” A shrill scream pierced the air, goosebumps skittering down his spine. Glass shattered beyond the closed door. He pushed himself out of bed, sweatpants dragging against the floor as he flung the door open to start scolding. The words died in his throat before they could even begin to form.

He had never left the hellscape. It stared him dead in the eye, flames sputtering and eating at the splintering wood stacked in piles of pyres. The stench of melting metal jolted him out of his astonishment.

Six tear-filled gazes met Seonghwa’s shocked one. The scene staged out in front of him took everything in him to break down and understand. Yunho, Yeosang, San, Mingi, Wooyoung, and Jongho were all caught in chains sitting on the floor.

It didn’t make _sense_. All thoughts left his head like water rushing away from the shore before a hurricane made landfall as he stared at the impossible scene with horror-stricken eyes.

“Seonghwa,” a haunting voice murmured, and he flinched. Flickering light snaked into the room, swirling around until it solidified into an all too familiar form. Aurora, Hebe, Elips, Eirene, whichever name she asked him to call her by.

Blue-green light reflected in his eyes as he realized there was one person missing: Hongjoong. Aurora gave him a pitying look and his stomach sunk.

“Seonghwa,” she repeated, her tone haunting and warping. Her form flickered and another glared at him from the shadow she cast. _The man in the black fedora_. “ _They_ didn’t leave you,” she said, her voice blending with the man’s.

“You left them while they screamed for _you_ ,” they said, red glowing from the core of her light. “They watched you fall. They watched you cry out for them.”

Wooyoung and San both cried out and Seonghwa whipped his head around to assess them. Gold liquid dripped down from their hair to their limbs; the droplets splashed against the cold stone floor that had replaced their wonderful carpet. Rage reared its ugly head in his heart.

“It had been a lie,” he stated, watching as the liquid shifted colors. The telltale bubbly and warm golden color of champagne bled into a deep pink ruby color as it ran rivets down the terrified faces of his closest friends. He sharply jerked his head up, meeting both the blank gaze of Aurora and the cold gaze of the fedora man.

“Seonghwa,” she tried to soothe before Seonghwa hissed out a few choice curses, a stinging pain overloading his senses. He shook his head, glancing around the room. He had to find Hongjoong. He had to make sure that he was safe, or as safe as he could be considering the insanity before him.

“Seonghwa,” the man spoke up. “You are right where you need to be. Your dream has led you to this one, to the end of the beginning.” He let out a hum, brushing a gloved hand against one of the chains holding Wooyoung back. Seonghwa had to bite his tongue to stop him from throttling the man before him. The man’s sharp glare found his silent stare. “Oh, don’t tell me. Cat got your tongue?” he mocked, eyes crinkling in twisted amusement. Aurora’s red light bathed them and made the man’s eyes even more terrifying.

The back of his throat started to tickle. He coughed into a fist, lungs squeezing and aching at the sudden spike of pain. Smoke curled tightly around his neck and choked him as he stared up at the masked man with tears lining his eyes. He removed his hand from in front of his mouth and he almost fainted. Pink coated his palm.

The fedora man pressed a finger in front of his mask, eyes crinkling again. “Hush, Seonghwa. Or else you’ll lose your dream.”

With those words, everything began to melt away and turn into a thick mist. Wooyoung’s whimpers were cut off, but the chains remained. The clanging and clanking of chains rubbing against each other echoed out as six sets hit the floor. His loved ones all faded like mist dissipating. As if they were never there in the first place. It was just Aurora, the fedora man, and Seonghwa.

“It’s not the reality that makes you lose your dream,” the man spoke, one of his hands flaring out and an hourglass pieced together in the flat of his palm.

“It is in your decision,” Aurora breathed, red casting out completely from her shining form. She turned away from Seonghwa and he stumbled, pure agony crippling him.

“But that decision lays here.” She placed a hand over her pure red core. Seonghwa clenched his fists as he grinded his teeth, glaring at the pillar of light that Aurora used to be for him. She was nothing more than a liar.

In a blink, there was the sound of metal striking a limb. Both him and Aurora turned in surprise at the sound, only to see the fedora man crumbled against the ground. A person in all white with a mask of chains and spikes completely concealing their identity stood behind the masked man’s limp body, a metal baseball bat firmly gripped in his hands.

“Seonghwa, _run_ ,” the person hissed and Seonghwa didn’t think twice and did as he was told. He turned and ran away from Aurora. A shriek of pain and the sizzling of something melting faded out as he ran as far as he could.

Mist surrounded him when he finally stopped running, gasping for breath as he hunched over his knees. Each breath stabbed his chest and shredded his throat. Quiet settled over his surroundings. Until footsteps echoed and grew louder. He glanced up as the person in white stopped a few steps away from him.

“You have the power to change this dream, Seonghwa. You’ve been here for a very long time. Too long.” The person shook their head, hands reaching up to carefully take their mask off. “You can change the world, if you dared to. So, I will only request this once,” they said. At last the mask fell away and kind eyes met his, an apologetic smile already on the other’s face.

“Open your eyes, Seonghwa,” Hongjoong whispered. “That’s all you have to do. Open your eyes and everything will be alright.” Seonghwa glanced down when he noticed the other’s hands moving, the baseball bat long gone. Hongjoong tightly clutched an hourglass in one hand.

The other lifted the hourglass and showed him the lock shaped keyhole at the base of the hourglass. The base of the hourglass accidentally brushed against Seonghwa’s wrist when Hongjoong turned to check behind them. The bracelet’s lock charm clicked into the hourglass’s keyhole and dissipated. All of a sudden, the sand at the bottom of the glass lit up with a golden glow as it rattled around like a contained hurricane. Light beamed out from the glass.

“Open your eyes,” he quietly repeated. His eyes met Seonghwa and they gleamed a bright, bright blue. “I am with you.”

**Author's Note:**

> If you liked this, feel free to leave a Kudo or a comment! I might end up making this into a little series. If you want to see what I get up to, my Twitter is: @ anitsukigi <3


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